German pharmaceuticals and chemicals company Merck KGaA is banking on an experimental multiple sclerosis (MS) pill to lift operating margins

Stuart SchlossmanMS Drug Therapies, Oral MS Medications

(Reuters) – German pharmaceuticals and chemicals company Merck KGaA is banking on an experimental multiple sclerosis (MS) pill to lift operating margins at its embattled drugs unit, it said on Wednesday.

Earnings before interest, tax and special items at its Merck Serono prescription drugs unit could rise to 25 percent of sales in the long term, up from 22.4 percent in the first quarter, analysts at Exane BNP Paribas quoted the unit’s head, Elmar Schnee, as saying in remarks confirmed by a Merck spokesman.

Merck resubmitted the U.S. application for its MS pill cladribine on June 8, trying to catch up with Novartis AG in the race to bring to market the first oral treatment against the debilitating disease.

If key pipeline drugs such as cladribine get rejected by regulators the margin could be 20 percent in the long term, Schnee said.

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